Eddie the Eagle is my 1967 Sunbeam Alpine Series V, white in color.
If you remember the 1988 Winter Olympics, you should be able to deduce
how Eddie got his name.
Anyway, after approximately 3 years of taking up space in my
garage, he's back on the road. Almost all the electrical problems
have been worked out, at least temporarily, his wire wheels have been
sandblasted and painted, and he's got new tires.
I used to get depressed when I'd look at him in the garage, and
think of what all needed to be done before I could drive him, but no
more. Martin Frankford, a Riley owner and fellow club member,
debugged the electrics for me, painted the wheels, and generally got
me off my duff and back to the wrenching. Many thanks to Martin.
Our club had an outing the weekend of Aug 3, and the plan was to
drive Eddie if we could get him ready. While at Martin's house
debugging the electrics, I had discovered that the splines on both
rear hubs and wheels were stripped, apparently due to becoming rusty
and the rust particles grinding down the splines. Fortunately the
splines on the hubs and wheels on the parts car were in great shape.
According to the shop manual the hub removal procedure is very
easy. So I rented a hub puller one Saturday morning, a couple of
weeks before the club outing, with the intention of having the new
hubs on Eddie and the old hubs on the parts car by that afternoon. My
dad even volunteered to come over and help out.
Pulling the hubs off of 25-year-old cars turned out to be a major
undertaking. On Eddie, the first one was fairly difficult, requiring
the use of a sledgehammer on the hub puller. Sometimes that old adage
"Don't force it, get a bigger hammer" really works! The other hub was
not too difficult. By then it was lunchtime. After lunch we
drove up to where I keep the parts car. Surprisingly, the first hub
came off fairly easily. But the second one would not come off. After
about an hour of pounding with the sledgehammer, my dad drove back to
his house to get the propane torch, while I stayed and kept hammering.
For some reason the puller kept coming off after only one or two hits.
Finally, as it broke into multiple pieces, I understood why it had
been falling off; one of the arms had cracked and we didn't realize
it. That effectively ended that day.
My dad used to be in the car business here in town, and still has
quite a few contacts. He borrowed a heavy-duty hub puller from a
Cadillac mechanic, and after just a few whacks with the sledgehammer,
that stubborn hub came right off. Amazing how easy things are with
the right tools.
So now comes time to swap the hubs. Everything goes smoothly until
its time to screw the nuts back onto Eddie's axles. One side goes on
fine. The other, no go. Seems the threads got spread out from all
the pounding on the hub puller. So my dad borrows a die from his
mechanic friend. I was somewhat leery about cutting into my axle
threads, but didn't have any better ideas. Amazingly, it worked!
That nut went right on, just like new. Like I and many before me have
said, the right tools make all the difference.
One catalog I checked wanted $280 for each hub! I only paid $325
for the parts car. Damn glad of it now, too.
While all this was going on, I had taken my wire wheels to be
sandblasted. After convincing the tire place that I would really be
back next week to buy new tires (really!), they took off the old
tires for no charge. I took wheels to be blasted on a Thursday, 9
days before the club outing, and he said he would do them the next
day and I could pick them up. This would give me plenty of time for
painting and getting new tires mounted. Well, they weren't done
Friday. They weren't done Monday, either. Nor Tuesday. I finally
got my wheels back just 3 days before the drive! Martin painted them
for me Wednesday night. This didn't leave much time for drying,
getting new tires, and putting them back on the car.
The tire place I was using doesn't carry tubes, so I had to make
a trip to another tire store for tubes. After letting the wheels dry
all day Thursday and part of the day Friday, I took them in Friday
(the day before the drive) at lunch. The guy swore they would be
done by 5:00. Well, they weren't. They closed at 7:00, so I went
home, ate, and came back around 6:30. They still weren't done. I
finally got my wheels and tires at 6:50pm, took them home, and put
them on the car. Finally, everything's ready! Martin stopped by
while I was putting on the wheels, so we decided to go for a spin to
get gas. I couldn't get the key to turn in the starter. We fiddled
with it for a while, and finally Susan realized that I was using the
wrong key. In my excitement I was using the key for the pickup's
camper shell. Hey, it went into the slot no prob, it just wouldn't
turn. After using the right key, plus a little starting fluid sprayed
into the carbs, he started right up.
It was a gorgeous night to be out cruising with the top down. We
drove over to my dad's and he went for a cruise around the block. The
starter wouldn't turn over when it came time to head for the gas
station, so I had to push start it. Same thing at the gas station.
No problem, I'll just put the battery on charge overnight and be all
set for the club outing.
Susan and I had arranged for my sister to babysit on the
off-chance that all the pieces fell into place. Early Saturday,
before the drive, I went out to wash 3 years of dust off Eddie, and
the starter still wouldn't turn over. So I had to push him out of the
garage. (You know the old saying: "I'd rather push a British car than
drive a Miata.") After a few minutes of figuring, I finally remember
how to put the top up, and washed him off. Then I put the battery
from my truck into Eddie. Still no go with the starter. What the
hell, I'll just push start it all day.
The day was sunny and brutally hot, and I got sunburned, but I
didn't mind! I got to drive my British car on a British car club
outing! What a concept! Sure beats tagging along in my pickup,
watching everyone else drive with their top down. Turns out I only
needed 3 push starts anyway. Not bad for a 110-mile trip. As you
know by now, the starter was shot and has since been rebuilt.
What's left to do? Nothing is keeping me from driving it. A new
exhaust system is on order; I had to take the old one off to get the
starter out, and it needed replacing, so now is the time. This
winter, I'm definitely going to put in a new wiring harness, and
possibly pull the engine/transmission and fix all the oil leaks
(that's the plan anyway; yes, I know it's a British car, external
lubrication is a feature, not a bug). Once Eddie is mechanically and
electrically sound, he needs a new top, carpet, and new foam in the
driver's seat. Then comes the paint job. It'll be a lot of work,
but I'm not worrying about it now, because at least I can drive him!
Yeeeeeeeee-haaaaaaaaaaaa!
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T.J. Higgins 205-730-7922 | higgins@ingr.com (Internet)
Mapping Sciences Division | uunet!ingr!higgins (uucp)
Intergraph Corp. M/S IW17A4 Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.A. 35894-0001
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